[Review] Nendoroid #657 – Dazai Osamu

Today’s review features Nendoroid #657, the mysterious Dazai Osamu, from Bungou Stray Dogs, who was just released last month! ╰( ･ ᗜ ･ )╯

The Box

You might notice that Dazai’s box is a little different from the current standard nendoroids, and I believe this is because Dazai’s nendoroid was produced at GSC’s factory within Japan, signified by the “Made in Japan” stamp in the upper right corner. There’s only one other nendoroid I can think of that share this design at the moment, and that is Nendoroid #500, Sakura Miku: Bloomed in Japan.

Besides the enlarged window, Dazai’s box follows the same overall design of current nendoroids.

Parts Overview

He comes with three total expressions, a standard body with straight arms and legs, his book, “A Guide to Suicide,” two sets of bent arms, a pair of hands in his pockets, a pair of hands for holding his book, a left hand with his index finger pointing out, special effects for his ability, water ripples effect part, and two bent legs.

The Stand

Dazai uses the regular arm-stand with the square base and comes with an extra neck joint, which is now standard in almost every box.

The Figure

And finally, here is the nendoroid right out of the box~ (*´꒳`*)

Dazai comes in his brown trench coat with a dress shirt, vest, and bolo tie. The bandages on his arms have also been recreated nicely. The belt on his trench coat is sculpted in a way that makes it appear dynamic, which ends up looking great in static poses. All of Dazai’s arms can also be separated from the coat sleeve, which makes for even more options when posing.

Optional Parts

The first one we’ll look at are these bent arms with hands in his pockets. The pockets come attached to the arms, and there’s a little indent on the back side to place it onto the trench coat pocket “opening” sculpted onto the main figure to keep the arm in place.

Next up, we have Dazai’s “A Guide to Suicide” and hands for holding the book.

He actually comes with both left and right hands for holding the book on either side of his body, and of course, he can hold it with both hands too if you wish.

As shown in product pictures, the book can also be used to cover his mouth on any of his expressions for a different feel.

Speaking of expressions, his first extra faceplate is a grinning expression! (*・▽・) Even though he’s smiling, he looks more mischievous than happy in my opinion.

Combined with the special left hand part, Dazai can also pull off a cool pose ━★

Dazai’s third and final expression shows off his comical and carefree side. This also happens to be my favourite of the three.

「Hellooooo~」

I’ve also found that you can use the extra left hand part to make Dazai point at himself or at something else.

Effects for Dazai’s ability: No Longer Human, is also included. It just attaches to his regular hand.

Dazai’s ability nullifies others’ abilities, with light appearing around the area of contact when it is activated. It can be pretty difficult to replicate for a figure, and I think they’ve done a decent job. While it isn’t my favourite of the extra parts, I still think it was a nice addition.

Last but not least, Dazai’s bent legs can be combined with the water ripple to recreate the many times that Dazai has attempted to drown himself ( ;ﾟдﾟ) Since they’re attached by the leg joint, you can position the legs any way you’d like, although the legs do attach rather loosely.

Final Thoughts

Dazai Osamu is one of my favourite characters of Bungou Stray Dogs, and I definitely enjoyed this nendoroid. I’m not sure if it’s because he was produced in the GSC Japan factory or not, but his sculpt and paint job was flawless from what I can tell. I had absolutely no problems when playing with him. He comes with a decent number of extra parts that give a good range of posing options thanks to his arms being able to separate at the sleeve. I know GSC has Chuuya in the line up, but I do hope more Bungou Stray Dogs nendoroids come our way in the future.

Well, that’s all for today! If anyone else has Dazai Osamu in their collection, let me know what you think of him! As always, please feel free to post and share your comments below.